Children’s
Games

Curated by Vincenzo de Bellis

Text by Vincenzo de Bellis

13.09.2017 — 03.06.2018

Children’s games is a group show, featuring works by Richard Aldrich, Lutz Bacher, Nairy Baghramian, Michael Krebber, Andreas Slominski, Haim Steinbach and Haegue Yang. Diverse in generation and approaches all artists share practices aimed at using methods, objects and messages related to childhood and keep alive the idea of “playing with art”.

The title is inspired by Children’s Games, an oil-on-panel by Flemish renaissance artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder, painted in 1560 and currently held and exhibited at the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna.

Bruegel’s painting presents a wide city square with a transition from an urban to a rural setting. The scene is populated by children – more than 230 overall – who are occupied with 83 different games. These seemingly useless children’s activities are regarded as a parable for the senselessness and foolishness of human behavior.

Taking inspiration from this painting, the show will present practices, from painting to sculpture to installation and photography, that directly or indirectly share the principle that “The knowledge of the reality surrounding us is done instinctively, through those activities that adults call play”.